January Legislative Update

When the General Assembly scheduled a November 27 legislative session back in the summer, it was supposed to be a week-long session in order to pass enabling legislation based on the constitutional amendments approved by voters in November.

There were also concerns by El Pueblo and other
organizations that the General Assembly was planning to pass anti-immigrant
legislation, including bills that would halt recent actions by North Carolina
sheriffs to half the 287g program in certain counties. The General Assembly did not address these
policy questions.

However, a week turned into two weeks, then three weeks, and then legislators were scheduled to be in session on December 27 after spending a full week before Christmas vetoing the voter identification bill (which is now a federal and state court case). Legislators were in session one more day (December 27) to override an election law bill that Governor Roy Cooper all but guaranteed he would reject by Christmas Eve.

The controversial bill was sent over December 14 and Governor Cooper had 10 days to veto or sign a bill into law. El Pueblo’s lobbyist was at the General Assembly for the veto override the following Thursday.

The General Assembly’s 2017-2018 biennium expired on December 31 at midnight and the Governor’s veto of any bill enacted on December 27 would be impossible to override.

The new General Assembly took office on January 1, 2019 and the first legislative day of the 2019-2020 biennium is January 9.